Eat Local, Heat Local: Locally Sourced Pellet Heat Can Save the Earth

Do you know where that tomato you're eating comes from? Ask that questions of thousands of people around Northern New England and they’ll give you the answer in detail. Locavore movements in New England and nationwide have changed the face of modern agriculture by showing people that eating sustainably and supporting local economies with food purchasing habits is healthier for everyone. What if you could extend that same consciousness to how you fill your furnace?

What is the most locally effective and positive way to heat your home?

At Lyme Green Heat, we get our pellets from a manufacturing facility in Jaffrey, New Hampshire called New England Wood Pellet. The majority of the raw material that this plant processes comes from within a 75-mile radius, and all of the 150,000 tons of green and dry wood residues that the plant purchases come from sustainable operations in the Northeast. Pellets from the Jaffrey manufacturing facility are made from the unused scraps of existing milling operations, making it an efficiently produced local fuel source that makes use of what would otherwise be waste.

Using a local pellet provider allows us to cut down even further on the carbon cost of delivery that plagues so many fuel sources. For large commercial pellet orders, deliveries arrive straight from Jaffrey, while smaller residential orders go to Lyme to be distributed. And with the ease of large-volume pellet storage options, deliveries can happen as rarely as once a year, further shrinking the already small carbon cost of pellet transport.

The economic benefit of relying on locally sourced pellet heat is important as well. Since all the raw materials and the manufacturing facility that processes them are local, the success of the pellet market feeds the regional economy and isn’t dependent on the fluctuations of the global market like oil is. That benefits you and your neighbors.

Just as you can eat green by buying from the small farmers near you, you can now heat green with locally sourced fuel.